Posted by BMT Micro

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The ability to sell and deliver your product or service online can be one of the toughest aspects of e-commerce. Shipping products, managing payment options, and improving sales can all be incredibly time-consuming and overwhelming. For many businesses today, it is more cost effective to outsource e-commerce needs than to hire in-house staff.

Outsourcing e-commerce needs allow your business to focus on your product or service rather than investing time, money, and resources into developing and maintaining an entire e-commerce system. It doesn’t matter if you are an independent developer working in your spare time or an established firm with an interest in outsourcing your e-commerce needs, a third-party platform will save you time and money. These platforms (like BMT Micro) are designed to simplify everything and do a lot of the work for you.

Here at BMT Micro, Inc., we offer a full-service e-commerce solution that will meet all of your business requirements. Our proprietary systems (all created in-house) have everything you need to sell software online. The following are a few of the services we can provide to you when you sign up with us:

Quick and easy set-up

Secure storage

Multiple payment options

Orders by phone, fax, mail and courier, as well as purchase orders

Localization & languages

Seamless integration & custom order forms

Advanced fraud protection

Flexible delivery options

Key generation, XML posting, integration

Gift Card and coupon integration

Comprehensive online reporting

Complete invoicing and accounts receivable service

Sales are processed through our merchant accounts so we handle the collection and remittance of the required taxes (including VAT)

Affiliate program administered 100% by BMT at no cost

In-house customer service center

And more!

We offer our clients personalized choices and solutions that other e-commerce providers are unwilling or unable to provide. We are continually upgrading and improving our services, options, and capabilities. With BMT Micro, your customers will enjoy online purchasing designed from the ground up to be intuitive and trouble-free. Plus, we can customize our plans to suit your business needs!

BMT Micro, Inc. has every base covered when it comes to successfully selling your product online. If you would like to learn more about our services or if you have questions, please feel free to contact our vendor services via email at vendors@bmtmicro.com or visit our website at www.bmtmicro.com.

Interested in signing up with BMT Micro today? If you would like to go ahead and explore what our full-service e-commerce platform has to offer, you can do so by signing up here: New Developer Sign-up. Please note: you can sign up and create an account with no costs or commitment. You are under no obligation when signing up with us. BMT Micro charges a % of the commission for each sale so if you never sell anything, you do not owe anything.

Posted by BMT Micro

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Improving the search engine optimization (SEO) for your website is not a quick or easy task. When it comes to strengthening your digital strategy, there are actually two different methods of optimization a business should utilize – on-page and off-page. These methods are completely different, but they both have great benefits to the optimization of your site.

What is On-Page SEO?
On-page SEO focuses on optimizing different parts of your website that affect your search engine rankings and overall readability of the site. On-page factors determine how easily search engines can index your web pages, understand what your site is about, and navigate the structure and content of your site.

There are a number of different components involved with on-page SEO. Many aspects of on-page SEO aren’t necessarily on the page in a literal sense, because they happen solely at the coding level. For example, page load time and mobile friendliness both impact users’ experience on your page and influence how your site gets ranked (Remember: Google wants to provide its users with the best, highest-quality content found on the web).

On-page SEO includes:

Page Content

Title Tags & Metadata

Headings (H1, H2, H3)

URL Structure

Page Load Speed

Alt-text for Images & Videos

Internal Links

What is Off-Page SEO?
Off-page SEO focuses on optimizing the pages on your website and increasing your domain authority by attracting link and brand mentions from other websites. Off-page factors determine how high your business ranks in the search engine results. These factors also tell the search engines that your content provides value for its users.

The number and quality of backlinks to your website is the greatest off-page SEO factor. Before Google’s Penguin and Panda updates, the number of links was once the primary metric of off page SEO success. Now, link quantity is still important, but the quality of the links you earn is far more important.

The first step to earn valuable links and improve off-page SEO is to start by creating shareable content. Then, your business can focus on increasing the number and quality of backlinks, which in return increases your rank in search engine results.

Off-page SEO include:

Link Building

Guest Blogging

Domain Authority (value of content, quality of links, and social sharing frequency)

On-page and off-page SEO are both equally essential and effective in improving the search engine optimization for your website. Your business can try to use just on-page SEO or just off-page SEO, but we would not recommend it. Using both strategies is the most effective method if you want your website to perform to its maximum potential.

Posted by BMT Micro

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Every business today, even for those who don’t conduct business online, needs to have strong online visibility. Having this increases accessibility to your business and supports brand awareness, audience building, and additional marketing efforts.

Online visibility can be defined as the positioning or ranking of your website in organic search results. Or, in other words, how easy it is for consumers to find your business and your products or services online. Without strong online visibility, your business could be losing out on a ton of potential revenue.

The following are 4 ways your business can improve online reach and visibility:

1. Encourage Online Reviews
Reviews can help your business better understand the products or services you sell, and they contribute to search engine optimization. They also help improve online visibility by increasing your digital footprint.

88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. But, accumulating reviews can be difficult, especially when you are just starting out. To learn more about how to grow & manage customer reviews, check out this blog.

2. Create and Promote Blog Content
A blog is a great way to build brand awareness online. Publishing regular content helps improve SEO and will increase online visibility. Having an up-to-date blog also helps drive more traffic to your website.

But, creating content for your blog is only the beginning. Your business must promote your blog if you want it to get the attention it deserves.

3. Optimize Your Website
Whether you’re starting from scratch or updating your existing website, it needs to be optimized for search. In order to rank in search results, you will need to look at searchable keywords and search engine optimization for your business. Start by identifying major keywords related to your business and phrases your customers are likely to use while searching. You can embed the keywords in your Meta description, title, and alt tags to improve your online visibility.

Also, your website should be optimized for easy navigation from both a desktop and a mobile device. It’s important to be conscious of your site load time and the readability of your content across all devices.

4. Engage On Social Media
Social media networks have spent a lot of time developing their social feeds and investing in social search. Google already has deals in place with Facebook and Twitter. Also, social media platforms may be more heavily indexed in search engines in the next few years.

Your business does not have to be on every social media channel to increase your online visibility. Focus on one or two primary social platforms that your business can easily manage and grow. It’s important to utilize these platforms to regularly posts relevant and useful content such as blog posts, company updates, and industry news.

Your online presence is key to growing your audience base and improving search rankings. By focusing on online visibility, your business can discover new ways to reach potential customers around the world that are looking for your product or service.

Posted by BMT Micro

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In order to start accepting credit or debit card payments for the products or service you sell online, you will need a Merchant of Record (MoR). The MoR is responsible for a lot of administrative tasks required for online businesses to effectively collect payments in a secure manner.

What is a Merchant of Record?
The Merchant of Record is an entity that is authorized and held liable by the financial institution to process the end consumer’s credit and debit card transactions. The MoR is also the organization whose name appears on the cardholder’s credit or debit card statement when they make a purchase.

A business can either act as it’s own Merchant of Record or outsource to a reseller who will assume responsibility for managing all of these tasks on the business’ behalf.

As a full-service e-commerce provider, BMT Micro can assume responsibility as the Merchant of Record and act as a reseller on your behalf. All sales are processed through our merchant accounts so we handle the collection and remittance of the required taxes (including VAT) to the proper authorities. We also maintain PCI compliance and are scanned quarterly for both PCI compliance and network security so you can concentrate on your products and customers, knowing their information is safe and secure. If you would like to learn more about the services we offer, please contact our vendor services via email at vendors@bmtmicro.com for more information.

Posted by BMT Micro

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Customer feedback is tremendously valuable for any business. Utilizing it can increase sales, improve repeat business and referrals, boost revenue and shape business development. Your customers offer a unique perspective on how your products or services fulfill expectations and compare to the competition.

To make effective business decisions, you should be proactive in engaging with customers. You can ask your customers for their opinions and views to help guide and inform your decision-making. Customer feedback is also a great way to catch issues before they become detrimental to your business and shows customers their input is valued.

Collecting Customer Feedback
Outlining your desired outcomes is essential. Before you begin collecting customer feedback it’s important to clearly define why you want to collect feedback and what you hope to achieve. You should consider the following before you start collecting feedback: parts of the user experience you want to improve, what you will do with the data you collect, and which channels work best for your goals (HelpScout).

You also need to have a system in place for collecting feedback so your business is able to understand and respond appropriately. According to Kissmetrics, the following are the 5 best ways to get consistent (and high quality) feedback from customers:

As soon as you find a process that works for your business and start collecting high-quality feedback from your customers on a regular basis, you should make it a standard practice. This provides a rare opportunity to open up a dialogue with your customers and a chance to develop rapport. Relevant feedback will give you insight into what your business is doing well, what areas could be improved, and how your customers really feel about the product or service your deliver.

Monitoring and using feedback will also give you the chance to intercept a problem and fix it before you lose a customer. In fact, customers who experience a problem that you are able to fix are more likely to become outspoken advocates for your business and remain loyal. Customer satisfaction is essential to business growth, revenue and sales. When you collect feedback from your customers consistently, it can help you build a more profitable and sustainable business.